Saving Lives in Libya: The Importance of Time

Erin Wilson

There is a bed in the ICU that has developed a special function over the last few surgical missions to Libya. It’s tucked in the back corner and quiet—it’s for resting and growing. It’s a bit like a greenhouse nursery, but for healing babies.

We just returned from Libya, where you helped us provide lifesaving heart surgeries for kids who have no other way getting the care they need.

Open heart surgery can be traumatic for little bodies. We see some children bounce back within hours of coming out of anaesthesia. But some babies need more than medication to heal—they need time.

Yomna was three months old when she got her surgery, but she was tiny! She didn’t have reserves built up in her body to help the healing process. So she spends her days swaddled and sleeping.

Hunaida was two-and-a-half months old when she had her surgery. And while she isn’t as tiny as Yomna, she had the same need for extra time to get well.

Hunaida didn’t make a fuss in the ICU. If she was dry, fed, and swaddled, she was content to sleep and heal.

You help get surgeons and nurses to Libya. You help make lifesaving surgeries happen for children with no other means to get their hearts repaired. And you help create something as intangible—but vital—as the time and space to heal.